Flashbulb Memories, the Nature of

Flashbulb Memories and the Study of Memory in General

Psychologists interested in how individuals acquire and use knowledge have devoted much attention to the study of memory. Indeed, there have been more studies of memory than of any of the other cognitive processes that psychologists have investigated. From both a theoretical and practical standpoint, the study of memory is important and provides valuable information to psychologists and educators about the way to best present material to enhance learning, the most effective strategies to promote remembering, and an understanding of the variety of factors that often serve to limit how much individuals can remember. Much attention has been paid to how individuals of all ages encode, store, and retrieve information they have experienced. The study of memory has had a long history in psychology and remains a topic of great study and fascination today.

Psychologists have found it helpful to categorize memories into short-term and long-term memories. Short-term memories of newly presented information, such as someone's phone number, may last for several seconds but are often displaced when individuals are distracted in some way or kept from rehearsing the information. Thus, a new phone number that one has looked up and intends to dial may be lost as one answers a question posed by a child entering the room. Chances are, if the information is not familiar, for example, if this is the first time that one has attempted to think about or remember this particular phone number, the phone number that is displaced is unlikely to be remembered at a later time. It has, for all practical purposes, vanished. Long-term memories are generally thought to be more permanent than short-term memories (although all long-term memories are not necessarily permanent) and can last for several minutes up to several years. An adult's recall of the first day of kindergarten, assuming that such a memory exists, would be a good example of a long-term memory. People's ability to recall information can be very impressive, as in the case of many long-term memories, or not, as in the case of many short-term memories.

Long-term memories are generally classified into one of several types of memory. Within the broader category of long-term memory are episodic memories, or memories for events; semantic memories, or memories for general knowledge (e.g., that a kangaroo is a type of mammal); and procedural memories, or memories for procedures involved in various skills (e.g., in typing or playing the piano). A flashbulb memory is a type of episodic memory.

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